Spiritual Blessing of Thanksgiving (Ex. 23:14-17)

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God

Spiritual Blessing of Thanksgiving (Ex. 23:14-17)

Speaker Pastor Dusun Park | Interpreter Tiffany Han

Let us bless and greet one another, “Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.”   Let us bless and greet one another again, “Happy Thanksgiving!”  Today is especially given to God as a Thanksgiving worship service.  We don’t only have to limit it or specify it to only this day, but we’re celebrating it today because today is the day where all of America is celebrating Thanksgiving.  The word “Thanksgiving” is not in the Bible, however, it began with the American churches and is now giving influence throughout the entire world.  As you may know, Thanksgiving began when the Pilgrims and Protestants were running away from Europe, looking for religious freedom, and then they met with the Native Americans who taught them how to harvest and plant crops, and every year, they celebrated Thanksgiving to celebrate the harvest they had gotten.  

1. Appointed festivals of the Lord (Lev. 23:2)

  1) Sacred assemblies (Lev. 23:2)

Then, what meaning does this have in the Bible?  In Lev. 23:2, it says there are festivals of God, and you must surely keep these feasts.  

    (1) The Sabbath (Lev. 23:3)

    (2) Passover, Festival of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:5)

    (3) Festival of Weeks (Lev. 23:15-16)

    (4) Festival of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:34)

There are three feasts, and there’s the Sabbath, where all of the members of the Israelite community have to gather together.  There are four other feasts that are celebrated, and those were celebrated within each of their own regions, with the Levites who are present in that area.  Then, why is it that with only these three feasts and the Sabbath day, the Israelites have to gather at the Tabernacle to worship?  

  2) Thanksgiving

There’s a tremendous meaning behind that.  In today’s scripture, it says that, “Three times a year, all men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, “ and they only said “men” because women were not counted as individuals back then.  So, I want to talk to you about these three feasts, specifically because today is Thanksgiving. 

    (1) Festival of Tabernacles (Deut. 16:16)

Thanksgiving is synonymous with the feast of the Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering, and the Feast of Booths.  There is another feast called the Feast of the Passover, and that is to show the future descendants of Israel, how their ancestors escaped from Egypt by applying the blood of a lamb to their doorposts.  Then, there’s another festival called the feast of firstfruits which talks about the first resurrection fruits. Then there is another feast called the Festival of Pentecost, which is 50 days after, and it is to celebrate the first of the harvest, and spiritually in the Bible, it represents the working of the Holy Spirit.  

    (2) Festival of Ingathering (Ex. 23:16, 34:22)

The third festival we’ll be looking at today is called the Festival of the Ingathering, and that is at the end of the harvest, where they take all of their harvests and put it into their storehouses.  

    (3) Sukkot / feast of booths

Another word for that is also called the Feast of Booths because back then, they did not live in houses; they had to live in these temporary booths that they created.  There’s another word for that, called, “The Festival of Tabernacles,” in other words, it means, “Where we dwell.”  So, these two festivals have different titles but it means the same thing.  For the Feast of Ingathering, it means, we take all of the crops and put them in the storehouses where they belong, and then for the Feast of Booths, this is where we dwell and where we live.  All of the seven feasts are ultimately pointing towards Jesus Christ.  For example, there is yet another festival called the festival of trumpets, and that is to resound and celebrate the coming of Jesus.  

  3) USA

    (1) 1 year of farming – Harvest

    (2) Thanksgiving Worship

    (3) Thanksgiving Day

2. Thanksgiving

  1) New Testament (Col. 2:16-17)

So in the Old Testament, God definitely commanded the Israelites to obey the Thanksgiving festivals, but what about the New Testament?  It says in Col. 2:16-17, 

    (1) Sabbath day

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink,” because in the Old Testament there were many restrictions on what they could or couldn’t eat, or “With regard to a religious festival, a new Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.” And the reason why we shouldn’t let anyone judge based on these things is in Col. 2:17.  Because all of these things that were mentioned in the Old Testament simply existed to foreshadow the reality to come.  So, all of these things exist just to foreshadow the coming of Christ.  

    (2) Festival 

Because in the Old Testament, Christ has not yet come, they represented Christ with what they could or couldn’t eat, and their festivals. It’s the same thing for circumcision and everything else.  

    (3) Shadow of Christ

If Christ has come now, then all of the shadows must go away.  Before the reality is before us, we have to show that reality through shadows and drawings, but once the reality is before us, we don’t need all these other things that we only used to explain the reality.  However, there are two religions that are still focusing on the Sabbath Day even today.  One of those is the Jewish religion, and the other is the Seventh Day Adventists.  The Jewish people say that the Bible says that the Sabbath day is on Saturday and you must rest, so why do you not observe the Saturday Sabbath? If they are saying that because they don’t believe in Col. 2:16-17, because in the Old testament, the Sabbath was on a Saturday.  

“Why is it on a Saturday but you do not keep it on Saturday?”  They say, “You have to live a biblical life but you’re not doing that,” it is because they do not really know what the Bible says.  So yes it is true that the Sabbath was on a Saturday, but Jesus Christ died on the Friday, that was the Passover.  So, Jesus was crucified on Friday, then on Sunday which was three days after He was put into the tomb, He resurrected.  Because that is the day Jesus Christ resurrected, that is the day we all gather to worship, and instead of calling it the Sabbath, we call it the Lord’s Day.  Then there’s another group of heretics that criticize us Christians, saying, “Oh, Sunday is the day that the Romans celebrated the god of the sun, so you are actually following Gentiles and idol worshippers.” So, all of these people who are focused on the specific day or the date are heretics.  

Why do we worship on Sunday?  Why can’t we worship on Saturday or Monday?  Let’s say America decided that Monday would be the national day off, then we would worship on Monday instead. If everybody in the nation got school and work off on Monday, then we would turn Monday into our day of worship.  Do you understand what this means?  It means it doesn’t matter whether the day is this or that because every single day is the Lord’s Day.  But because people don’t get this sense that everything is centered on Christ, they argue about this day or that day.  Let’s say, for example, I can never go to church on Sunday because I have to go to work, then you can dedicate Saturday to be your day of worship. I’m sure no one is like that here.  In Korea, there are churches like that, they specifically gather to worship on Saturday because they cannot worship on Sunday because of work. 

Do you understand what “The Lord’s Day” means?  Any person who is at the level of arguing and nitpicking over the day and time is a heretic.  Even right here, just a few blocks away on Friday nights, there are people walking around in yarmulkes and black clothes, going to their festivals, and they’re trying to maintain that, even though the Sabbath and festivals are only meant as a shadow to represent Christ Who was to come. Now that Christ has come, we should be centered on Christ.  So, tomorrow is also the Lord’s Day, it’s not our day. Every single day, we confess and worship Jesus Christ as the Lord of all Lords and the King of all Kings.  

  2) Spiritual meaning

    (1) God’s dwelling place (Throne of heaven) – Tabernacle (Rev. 21:3)

Then in other words, what is the spiritual meaning of the Feast of the Ingathering or Thanksgiving?  The reason we also call it the “Festival of the Tabernacle” is because in Rev. 21:3, it says, this is the place the Lord dwells. We are always with the Lord God, and when our physical body dies, it might die, but our spirit goes to be with the Lord forever.  In other words, we are like the grain that has been saved, and once we have salvation, we are then stored inside the storehouses.  

    (2) Prepared a place for you (Jn. 14:2-3)

This is in Jn. 14:2 when Jesus Christ says, “My Father’s house has many rooms and I’m going there to prepare a place for you,” that means there is some place where we must go. That is heaven, and that is our Tabernacle.  

    (3) Background of God’s Kingdom

In other words, it means, while we are living on this earth, we are enjoying the background of God’s Kingdom, and then we go to God’s eternal Kingdom. So now, really, we don’t need a Thanksgiving festival.  We just happen to give this Thanksgiving worship centered on today because this is the day America designated as Thanksgiving, so we focus on it.  

  3) Thanks

    (1) 1 year – Guidance

Then today, we can think about the Thanksgiving we have for all of the guidance and answers God gave us throughout the year.  If you don’t acknowledge the physical answers God gave you, you’re not acknowledging Him as your Lord.  So, today is the Thanksgiving worship and we must restore our thanksgiving, so what exactly do we have to be thankful for?  Think about this today.  “I have nothing to be thankful for; I only have things to complain about.”  I hope that through today’s Word, you may restore thanksgiving.  I’m somebody who has a lot of complaints, and I’m the type of person who is not happy unless something good happens to me, and even if something good happens to me, I don’t smile much.  People say, “Oh, this is so good,” and I’m just saying, “Oh, well that’s that,” but what does the Bible say?  

    (2) In all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:18)

What does it say in 1 Thess. 5:18?  It says to give thanks in all circumstances.  Is that possible?  How can it be possible?  Are you able to give thanks to God for every single circumstance you’re in right now?  That has to be resolved, that has to be resolved for you to be a true Christian. If that is not resolved for you, then on the outside, you might look like a Christian, but on the inside, that’s not what is happening.  Yes, when good things happen, you say, “Thank you,” but what if bad things happen?  That’s still under “All circumstances,” and are you able to give thanks to God in that circumstance?  Logically, that’s never possible.  People who have logical theology or faith like Martha can never say, “Thank You.”  

There is one commonality among all of the individuals and families who have a spiritual and mental problem: it is that they have no thanksgiving.  Even though they race towards success and they accomplish so much, they are still lacking thanksgiving.  They only use “Thanksgiving” for the first time once they’ve satisfied everything that they’ve wanted.  But how will they live their lives after accomplishing success?  They really don’t have any wisdom.  They think, “Once I accomplish what I want, that’s going to be it.”  No, what is success? You need to be successful right now.  How can you be successful right now?  It is if you are giving thanks to God in all circumstances.  Rationally this makes no sense; it’s only possible when God’s grace is upon you.

So, in order to help your rationality, I’ll explain why we must be thankful.  Romans 8:28 says that God works in all things for His good purpose.  “In all things,” good things, happy things, bad things, and sad things; in all things, God works to fulfill His good purpose, so we can be thankful in advance. If you are only waiting later on to see and then be thankful, that’s too late.  Because you’re already in God’s will, be thankful now.  My kind of personality can never be thankful in advance.  Even if I have a good thing happen to me, I’m not thankful, but God is changing somebody like me.  So, look at my facial expression, do I have any smile muscles?  Most of my facial muscles are for frowning, that’s how my life developed.  

Now, I’m a little bit different.  I’m not thankful because I have something different or new; I’m exactly the same, but now I’ve received God’s grace, and I’m able to see, “Oh, this is God’s will and I’m able to be thankful in advance,” that is the wise one.  If you’re holding onto your thanksgiving saying, “We’ll see if this really works out on my behalf,” and when you die, you’ll only have a few things you’ll be thankful for.  You’re happy because you met the woman you love?  I’m sure someone is happy when they accomplish their physical desires.  I’m sure they were happy when they got married and had a baby, and other than that, they just live in complete sadness.  They were happy when they were in love and dating, but their husband is not listening to them and they’re always fighting and bickering over financial problems, and it’s already hard enough without a disease, but my partner got a disease, so there’s not much to be thankful about.  “I raised my baby and now I should be happy at their wedding, but I’m sad because they’re leaving me.  Then when I get older, I have to retire, I have to be unemployed?  Society doesn’t acknowledge me, I have diseases,” it’s always sad.  But that’s not what the Bible says.  The Bible says, “Give thanks in all circumstances,” that is the way for you to block your mental and physical diseases. 

    (3) God’s will (2 Cor. 5:18)

Today, you have to give a lot of offering, why?  So that you can get multiple-fold blessings.  If you are able to restore the ability to be thankful, then that’s invaluable, and that’s God’s purpose.  So, living by God’s will, that’s a Christian, and God’s will is for us to be thankful in all circumstances.  There are two other things in the previous verses.  “Rejoice always.”  How can we rejoice always?  If the conditions are based on yourself, there is not much to be rejoicing about. You need to have the condition of Christ in order to restore “rejoicing.”  In other words, this is specifically talking about how to enjoy the Lord being with you at all times.  “The Lord God has saved me and He is with me always, 24 hours for eternity,” and that’s why we can always rejoice.  If you look at your life and what you have, that’s not a Christian.  We rejoice because we are with Christ.  I am a saved child of God.  

But if you lose hold of that and you try to look for another reason to be happy, then that’s why people have to do drugs, because there’s not much to be happy about.  That’s why they have to drink alcohol so at least they can have these fake laughs.  Then on Thanksgiving, in order to make themselves feel happy, they have to go gambling to be filled with giddy excitement.  And they’re imagining the happiness that comes from making a big win.  I studied statistics so I will tell you probability-wise, you will lose because the very way they design the gambling machines is so that you lose, but why is it that even though we know this, we’re still dragged around by it?  Because we think about it, and we’re so happy.  

So, how can we rejoice always? By remembering that the Lord has saved me and is with me forever.  Instead of basing your conditions of happiness on yourself, set it on Christ Who is the Lord God. And “Pray without ceasing,” it says.  If you place this condition on yourself, then this is forced labor.  If you place the condition to “rejoice always” upon you, there is no reason to be happy.  You’d have to be on drugs 24 hours in order to be happy, and when God says to pray without ceasing, He means, “I will answer you without ceasing. I will lead you without ceasing.”  That’s why we’re able to pray without ceasing.  Even right at this moment, how can you enjoy being with the Lord God, it is about rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and being thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for us.  If there are any of you who are new believers or newcomers to the church, you must understand correctly.  The Lord tells us that this is God’s will for us, and a Christian is someone who lives according to God’s will. That is what you call a “True Christian.”  Your situation doesn’t matter, that’s what David was like.  In the situation where David is chased to death by King Saul, he gave thanks to God, why?  Because this is the work that will be used for God’s good purpose.  

Did you make a mistake?  I hope you’ll be thankful.  When does the devil crawl into you? When you are discouraged because of your mistakes or errors.  When does the devil go into you? When you are discouraged because of diseases or sickness.  Instead, be thankful because God has allowed this to happen and He will use it to fulfill His good purpose; therefore, be thankful.  Even though I may have a disease, if I’m overflowing with thanksgiving inside, then this disease has no effect on me.  Today is Thanksgiving, and restoring true Thanksgiving is what the Lord desires.  There’s no need to look far into the future, right now.  We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, whether we will live or die, so, right now.  That is why, always, we are always “in progress.”  “Oh, if I just grin and bear it, then one day, I’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor or my investments,” that’s a futile life. You’re just thinking about something that God never guaranteed for you.  God promised, “I will be with you forever. Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with you.”  The Triune God, the Creator God, is with me, what more do I need? The devil is attacking my mind and my mental state but if the Lord is with me, there is nothing that can overcome that.  

For a normal Christian and a normal Church, the more they believe in this, the more they will change. Gentiles can never change their form like this, or heretics, they can never change their form like this, because they don’t acknowledge that Christ is God. The Catholics say that Christ is not God, that we need to pray to Mary instead of Jesus; they have no change in them.  Jesus Christ has finished everything, but the Mormons believe there is another prophet after Jesus; they have none of this.  There’s a religion that acknowledges God the Mother as well as God the Father; they have nothing.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses think that Jesus was an angel?  They have nothing.  We have to restore what God has given to us, because of Christ; there’s no other name.  No matter how diligently you live your walk of faith, if Christ does not go into you, nothing will happen. The only unique name to overcome is Christ, and He is the True God.  He is with me through the Holy Spirit.  Our Faith is enjoying this fact.  

Where do I stake my life?  Upon God.  Anything else you are staking your life on, I hope you will change it with God’s Word.  Do not stake your life on your business, but instead, stake your life and your business upon God’s Word.  Your business cannot block your depression, your business itself cannot give you happiness.  Even people cannot give you happiness.  Only Christ Jesus Himself can give us happiness.  This must be restored in order for America to be healthy again.  Even if there are many churches, if this fact is not restored, then everybody will die.  Why are people so angry?  People are angry because of their scars, then why do people get scars? It is because they didn’t live their life with the standard set on Christ.  Their standard for everything was me, myself.  When my pride is hurt, then I get a scar.  When this person causes me harm or a disadvantage, I am scarred by that person.  I thought my parents would love me unconditionally, but they don’t, so that’s why I’m scarred by them. All of these scars are a result of looking at myself instead of looking towards Christ and His love. 

How can we come out of our scars, then? We need to come out of ourselves.  Once I turn back to the standard of the Lord God being with me, then I can be set free from scars.  There’s’ not a single person who doesn’t have scars.   Little children grow up inside of their families getting scars, and Satan works on them as they grow up, and when Satan works upon these scars, that’s when  shootings arise, and that’s why we have explosive anger.  You try to raise your children so well, but one day, they have this explosive anger management issue. That person might think that physically, “I raised my child well, because I supported my child physically with no lacking,” but that child received a scar.  They received it at school, they might have received a scar because they were outcast at school for not speaking the same language as everyone else. THey might have received a scar from discrimination. They might have received a scar by not speaking English well.  But the parents don’t even know about any of this, they say, “We immigrated to give you a better life.”  Children will get scarred when they look at their parents and think, “These parents are not normal.”  Even if their parents are a little bit less wealthy than their friends’, then they get scarred by comparing themselves to their friends, and if their parents are too abnormal in their actions, then children can get scarred. There is not a single person who doesn’t have a scar, that’s what I’m saying.  However, if you believe in God correctly, then even if you did receive a scar, you will be set free from your scars.  

What is the standard of a Christian?  You are set free from your scars when you acknowledge that Christ is my Lord and Master. Why was I outcasted at school? It’s because you were in a state that had no choice but to be outcast. Not everybody was outcasted, but this person had a state that made them have no choice but to be outcasted. Why is it that this person is naturally drawn to homosexuality? It is because that person has the spiritual state of homosexuality, and strangely enough, they were just drawn to it.  Does it mean that the homosexual people who are drawn to me are wrong?  You have to change the state inside of you first.  Flies will gravitate towards dirty areas and no matter how much you try to shoo the fly away, it won’t work.  Why are people suffering ever since they are born?  That fly will not be there if you just clean the area. There are people who will get scarred in the future as well.  If you keep yourself at the center of your own life, then the devil will use that to give you a scar and will use that scar to dig deeper into you and destroy you. There’s no counseling that can fix that, there’s no amount of comforting that can help you.  Only when you confess that Christ is your Lord and Master can you be set free. 

“Oh, in the past, Christ was not my master, then.” If Christ does become my Master, then this situation turns into an answer.  That’s the standard of a Christian. Yes, it’s possible that you may come to church and be scarred, and yes, there is a person who gave you a scar, or even if a specific person doesn’t give you a scar, your scar may be touched here, but there are a lot of misunderstandings. . There’s too many things like that.  But you’re just getting so lost in yourself.  You need to change who your Lord is.  If you never ask, “Why did God allow this to happen?” Then you’ll ever receive an answer, and if you never ask God, “Why did God allow this person to say that to me?” then you’ll never receive an answer. And if you are saying from your own standards, “How dare that person say that to me?” you’ll never be changed.  You need to acknowledge Christ as your Lord and Master.  Not just acknowledging with your brain or with your words, but in your natural, everyday lifestyle, you have to acknowledge Him as your Lord in order to change.  

3. God’s Kingdom

  1) Christ – It is finished (Jn. 19:30)

    (1) Satan, Sin, Life – Separated (Death)

Then, there is the Kingdom of God we must go to after we die, and there is the Kingdom of God we must enjoy and make on earth. How can we establish God’s Kingdom on earth?  Satan exists in this world, and Satan existing is not a problem for us.  When does it become a problem for us?  When Satan tempts me, that is when it becomes a problem.  If there is a robber around, it’s not a problem to me.  Only when that robber tries to attack me, that’s the beginning of my problems.  Satan used to be an angel, and then when he opposed God, that’s when he became Satan, and that’s what he does, he tempts you to oppose God.  And if you get caught in His temptation, that is what you call “Sin,” you can tell that somebody is a heretic by looking at their standards of how they define sin.  If you’re focused on morals and ethics, that can be taken care of by the laws of the world.  But the sin the Bible tells about is not believing in God. When you face a financial problem, you don’t believe in God; that is sin. When you have problems in your relationships or business, not believing in God, that’s the sin.  All of your actions that you do because you don’t trust in God, that’s just a result of your sin.  That can be revealed in many different types of actions, for example assaulting somebody else or hurting someone else. What is Satan doing even now?  Satan continues to tempt us so that we do not believe in God, and if we get caught in Satan’s temptations, we are separated from the life of God.  For the saved children of God, God is always with us, so that will never change, but my spiritual state strays from God; then, you experience things like spiritual death, a hellish life.  

You need to listen well to this, you need to listen to today’s words very carefully especially if you’re a new believer, or if you’ve gone to church for a long time with no answers.  The Bible is telling us that this is the real problem, this is an invisible problem.  Satan tempts you so that you do not believe in God’s Word and therefore fall into sin and are separated from God. That is the problem the Bible tells us about. Humans can never solve that problem on our own; Jesus Christ Himself must die on the cross to solve all of the curses and disasters for us.  Even though Jesus Christ died on the cross physically, His Spirit remained alive, and as evidence that He is God, He resurrected, defeating the power of Satan, death, and hell, and now He is with me as my Lord and as my Life.  You must believe in this.  

What is your problem right now? It’s not a financial problem. It’s not a drug or substance problem.  There is a problem before you’re diseased, there’s a problem before your conflicts and relationship problems.  You need to know what the real problem is in order to know why only Christ is the answer.  Christ is not only the answer when your receive salvation, He must be the answer for you today as well.  But when you talk about Christ, many people think we only need Christ when we accept salvation, but we need Christ every single day because even right now, Satan is tempting me to leave God’s Word, and my spiritual state will be covered in darkness, and from that point on, the devil will drag me around. As a result of that problem, there are visible problems. 

    (2) Only problem

But there’s only one problem.  It is, not believing in God.  It’s not a financial problem. You need to ask God why He’s not giving it to you, then what?  Why is it money? Does God not have money? You keep asking the wrong questions, that’s why you get the wrong answers.  Why is this person the problem? It’s because I don’t acknowledge that God is m in my relationship with this person. Have you ever asked God why He allowed the other person to say those words to you? You don’t trust in God then, do you?  The problem is you don’t believe in God, that was Martha and Mary’s problem; that’s why these things happened.  You have to know the real problem in order to know why Jesus Christ is our only answer.  Yes, the problems of depression and diseases are real problems that happen, but what is the real problem?  It’s not believing in God. 

It’s because you do not believe in God as your Lord, then what do you believe? You believe in yourself, you believe in your thoughts, that’s why you have no choice but to get depression. If your thoughts could block depression, it would be fine, but they can’t, so that’s why you have to use medication to assist with this.  What is it the church does? The church is the place that tells people about the original problem, before their visible problems, and we give them the only answer of Jesus Christ, and make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior.  You have to believe in Christ as your Lord and Master.  If Christ has not become your master and instead, you make your decisions based on things you’ve enjoyed in the past, then that’s how you’re seized by the devil. There’s a lot of things like that, “Oh, all of my successes in the past are my standard,” Or “All of my knowledge and my experiences, that’s my standard”?   Or, “my great education that I’ve accomplished, that’s my standard”? I’m sorry, but there are no answers there.  When can you receive answers? When you acknowledge that everything is rubbish, that’s how you can receive answers. Do you understand? That’s how you need to know Christ.  

    (3) Only answer

I consider everything rubbish so that I may gain Christ. Does that mean your education is useless? It just means you don’t boast about it because there’s nothing to boast about other than Christ Himself because my education cannot solve my mental problems.  My education cannot solve my spiritual problems.  Money cannot give me true happiness, in fact, people are anxious because they have so much money.  The devil continues to tempt you so that you lose hold of Christ and hold onto something else instead. Why does it matter what that person does or says, why do you care so much?  Just focus on yourself and your flaws; in fact, Mt. 7 says that when you see a flaw in the other person, see your own flaw, why are you acting like God, pretending like you know right from wrong?   That’s what the devil does, he marks you in a situation where you think you are in a position where you can judge right from wrong and what others should do.  So people judge and criticize other people, they do something only God would be able to do.  The only thing you’re able to do is to look at someone else who you think is making a mistake and pray so that you don’t fall as well. And then pray for those who are vulnerable, but instead, you’re walking around talking  badly about them; that person’s state is seized by Satan.  What do you think will happen to their life?  Without a doubt, they will face another problem.  Because that person is stuck in the fundamental problem, but they’re not aware of it.  

  2) Master (Ac. 2:36)

    (1) Stronghold – Demolish (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

    (2) In the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17)

    (3) Righteousness, Peace, Joy (Rom. 14:17)

Through today’s worship, I hope that no one will be like that.  You just have to look at yourself.  “Am I going in front of God with faith?” and, “Do I have true happiness? Am I praying without ceasing? Am I thankful in all circumstances?  Stop looking at the past, and stop looking at yourself.  Your relationship was between you and the Lord. When do all the strongholds inside of you get broken down? When  they’re obedient to Christ.  That is why Romans 14:17 says that the Kingdom of God within the Holy Spirit is filled with righteousness, peace, and joy. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, that’s only physical. If you need it, then eat and drink, but we’re not living on this earth just to eat and drink, in other words, we‘re not living just to make money or succeed, we are living for the Kingdom of God. How do I live for the Kingdom of God? It is the righteousness, Joy, and peace within the Holy Spirit. Where must we go? Within the Holy Spirit, and we must be reigned and controlled by the Holy Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ.  Then, the Lord gives us the gift of righteousness, pepeace, and joy.  

Righteousness, peace, and joy do not come from your success, it is only found in Jesus Christ. The devil tempts you continuously, making you think you can find it elsewhere, but turning away from Satan’s temptation is the way for you to escape from your problems.  The devil was a liar from the beginning, and he will murder your soul, and he is doing that even now.  That is why, only Jesus Christ is my Lord.  Nothing else can be my Lord.  When God becomes your Lord and Master, that is when God’s Kingdom is established.  If there are any of you where this is your first time coming to church, or you’ve been to churches before, but you’ve heard weird things, let go of everything.  You might say, “My last church did it like this,” that doesn’t matter, those are just the visible things, hold onto the Word of God.  

  3) God’s Kingdom

    (1) Filling, working of Holy Spirit (Ac. 1:8)

Now, pray for God to completely fill and control you with the Holy Spirit so that you may follow God’s accurate Word.  This is invisible, it’s with faith because God promised it.  Even evil spirits work, if you’re filled with evil spirits, that’s how you become a shaman.  There’s a witchcraft which is plowing into American churches; if you go to American churches, there are many people practicing witchcraft, so there’s an ignorance inside of the churches. They don’t know what witchcraft is, they don’t know that evil spirits are filling this person to heal diseases.  People are practicing witchcraft inside of the churches and the pastors aren’t able to say anything about it, that’s because of their spiritual ignorance.  So even though they’re not able to see anything, they see that the works are happening, it is because of their spiritual ignorance.  

    (2) To the ends of the earth (Ac. 1:8)

Is there another religion in the region where you are living?  Then, you are being spiritually influenced by that other religion. And that is why there is a commonality within that region. So first there is the influence of the region, and then there is the spiritual influence of the underlying problems in your family line, these are the two influences on you all the time.  If you’re not able to understand this, think about how you’ve felt every time you move locations.  Every time you move locations, your spiritual state is different.  That is the spirit that is reigning over that region you’re in. That is why you must be filled with the Spirit of God and you must break down Satan’s Kingdom with the Kingdom of God. You are going out into the world to fight the spiritual battle.  If you go in just to do your job, you’re going to get hurt.  You are there for the spiritual battle because Satan is holding onto the world with authority.  Why did God give me my studies and my job? To use this as a tool to go into the world, and what do I do through that work?  You break down Satan’s Kingdom at your job and you raise up God’s Kingdom.  The Lord is inside of us, that’s why we are called God’s Kingdom, and when the devil comes into us, that is the kingdom of the devil.   Because God is inside us, we are the Kingdom of God, and in order to protect God’s Kingdom, God mobilizes His heavenly angels.  

There are police officers in America, right?  The police and the military are in these regions to protect America.  When we go out to fight the spiritual battle in the world, God sends His armies.  The reason we have the American military is to protect America.  Same with God’s Kingdom.  Invisibly, God’s angels and hosts are protecting you, that’s Heb. 1:14. When you go out into the world to fight God’s spiritual battle, it is invisible, but God will send you the heavenly angels to protect you and move ahead of you. That’s what you call, “God’s Kingdom,” you believe in this and then you go forward.  But if you don’t acknowledge the spiritual things at all, and you’re only focusing on the physical life you live, then either you are a religious person or you have no salvation.  That is why you receive the filling of the holy spirit to be a witness of Jesus until the ends of the earth, that’s why you take your business to the ends of the world to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth.  The reason God gave you your business or job is for God’s Kingdom, to find disciples and to heal people.  To the people you meet in your business field, you need to tell them what the real problem is, what the real answer is, and give them true healing by allowing them to accept Christ. If we don’t teach this to the next generation, then it’s a disaster.  

Every now and again, I go into my daughter’s room, and when she’s in her room, she’s sitting there with a blank mind, she’s saying she’s depressed, and this is something if my daughter found out that I said this, I’d get in trouble, because I have to give you an example in order for you to understand. She’s a pastor’s daughter, and she prays every day, but what kind of state is she in?  When she’s alone and she’s just by herself, she’s completely lost in her thoughts and her face is completely blank.  Her anger management issues are getting more and more worse. She wasn’t always like this, so my wife asked me yesterday, “Do you think she has a mental illness?” and I thought, “It looks like that to me as well,” so you guys are all laughing but I’m sure your children are worse. I’m not talking about my kid right now, you guys just don’t notice because you don’t see it.  At least for me, I’m a spiritual expert so I discover this quickly, so yes, there is puberty, but there is also the flow of the family line.  So I called her, and I asked her, “What do you think about?  You get lost in your thoughts without even realizing it, don’t you?  At first, it starts with you getting lost in your thoughts, but later on, that’s how the devil seizes you. Where do your thoughts come from?  You think you’re thinking these thoughts, but these are Satan’s.” 

People who think a lot, their mental state is not good.  There are people who just chew on their thoughts again and again, and I know some of you do that; without a doubt, you are afflicted because your thoughts are not from God.  Where do they come from? They are thoughts from the world, all of your thoughts are coming from somewhere else. The devil uses that as a foothold to seize you with those thoughts, and if he seizes your emotions, you cannot escape from depression, and if Satan holds onto your thoughts and your heart, you cannot escape on your own, so I realize, this is something to be thankful for.  So, I was able to explain the spiritual things to her. My daughter doesn’t even know the reason why she has to meditate or what meditation is. My wife plays the “7,7,7 prayer” with her, but she just listens to the melody, she doesn’t know any of the content. True Meditation is about thinking about thinking about the Word you received in the pulpit message, and absorbing that into your life, and I told my wife, “You’re raising our daughter to be a religious person, going through the motions, just like any other pastor’s kid who just knows a lot of knowledge.“  I asked my wife to lead my daughter through meditation, but she’s not able to, so I finally just had to tell my daughter why her thoughts were seizing her, that there’s something in her family line like this, and you have to think about that.  “Right now, you’re like this, but later on, you won’t even be able to live in society.  Just like people who get a PhD and they’re very brilliant, but they’re not able to do anything in society because they are powerless, and it’s not as if they didn’t go to church, they did, and they tried to do missions as well, but later on, they couldn’t even budge, why?  Because they didn’t have the real content.”

    (3) Disciples, Healing, Future generations (Mt. 28:19, Mk.16:17, Jn. 21:15)

Why do I tell you to confirm every morning that “Jesus Christ died on the cross and resurrected, He is my Lord, and I need the filling of the Holy Spirit,” every morning?  I confirmed that with my daughter, too, and realized that I have to do this with my daughter, I can’t trust my wife to do it because my wife seems like she’s going through the motions but it’s slightly different from what I do, because she grew up in the church and she doesn’t know the state of an nonbeliever going to a believer.  My wife doesn’t know when you say, “Christ,” she knows the knowledge but she doesn’t know why it has to be Christ, and we have to meditate on that Christ that we need but they can’t because they don’t know the content.  I’m sure most of you are like that as well, I’m  sure you don’t know what meditating is, and if you don’t know what meditating is, it’s concentrating on God.  When you focus on God, there’s something you receive from God.  You’re not able to have this, and that’s why people concentrate on the internet, and that’s what they do before they sleep.  For kids, they’re on the internet 24 hours a day.  There are 40% of young adults who are getting mental problems, statistically, because of the things that are inside of fast food and junk food.  

I made a contract with my daughter yesterday that said, “If you don’t eat one of the complete meals that your mom makes you throughout the week, then we’re taking away your phone” because we got her blood tested and it’s a very severe situation because she’s not eating good food, so I said, “I’m going to tell you your future, in the future, you’re not even going to be 100 lbs and you’re not going to be able to leave the house; you’re not even going to be able to go out into society because you’re so afflicted with mental illness, because you’re making yourself sick with all the junk food. You need to eat the vegetables and the things God created.”  She drank so much soda and inside the soda, there’s so much sugar and caffeine, and that’s why Americans are going crazy for it. This is the American food, it’s all about convenience, but you need to raise your children with health with the things God has given.  So, when I’m telling you about my daughter, the way you should think is, you need to realize, “My children are probably worse than that, if the pastor’s child is like this.  It’s just that the pastor is able to see with his spiritual eyes, and I’m not able to see,” but that’s why later on, you’re going to have a very strange forum taking place when they’re all grown up.  

Conclusion

1. 24 – Christ is master

2. 25 – Answer of God’s kingdom

3. Eternity – Lives come to life

In conclusion, Christ is with me forever.  Everybody knows that, but is He your Lord?  Acknowledging the Lord for all of your days is how you rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, then you will realize that nothing is a problem at all.  That is how you will be a witness who is able to save yourself and others. The will of the Lord is to restore true thanksgiving on today, Thanksgiving.  May you have victory throughout the week.  

Message Prayer

Let us pray together holding onto the Word we have received.

Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing

God, we thank You.  We have returned Your materials as offering.  We pray that only Christ will be our Lord, and we believe You will give us the material blessings to establish your Kingdom as well.  We pray You will bless our businesses and our studies to establish God’s Kingdom until the ends of the earth.  We pray that You will give us the precious evidence of the people who are physically and mentally diseased being restored by faith. We believe this will be the time to restore true Thanksgiving to the Lord.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. 

God, we thank You.  We pray that through today’s meeting, through the worship, we may restore true thanksgiving.  And we pray that You will give Anthony the blessing of the evangelist who is able to enjoy and proclaim Christ in his fields.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen. 

Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer

2. Hollywood camp – Temple

3. RCA 11/28-30

4. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch

Benediction

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, guidance, working, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to restore the true thanksgiving that comes from faith in Christ and relay this to the rest of the world, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.

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